Sakura stood over by a tree, waiting for the fight to begin. Sasuke and Naruto had moved away from each other and were patiently waiting for the other to start. Sasuke knew he would run at him any second now, being the irrational person he is. Naruto knew it too.
He had to start it or else that would arouse even bigger questions. So, he made a substitution bunshin and sent it charging. It landed a few hits and so did Sasuke. After the fifth hit Sasuke made on the clone, it disappeared. Sasuke began looking around, confident that he had at least made a few hits.
However, Naruto had found over the years how to make his clones last longer in battle. He stood up on the branch he was on and tackled Sasuke, causing the two to roll. Naruto got in a few punches as they rolled down the hill. Sakura was running after them, she looked a bit worried.
Naruto and Sasuke continued to struggle to gain control of the other, getting in a few hits. They soon ran out of ground, though, and rolled off a cliff. Acting on instinct, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the wrist, who gasped when he fell, and then stuck to the edge of the cliff with chakra. He also grabbed onto a tree root with his free hand.
Sasuke stared wide-eyed at Naruto and was about to speak when he pulled him up and...hugged him? Sasuke inwardly shuddered at the close contact. Naruto was now holding on to Sasuke's waist, while clinging to the side of a cliff.
Sakura, seeing them go over the edge, ran over, worry written clearly on her face. However, when she looked down at them, she laughed out loud. Naruto pulled himself up, still holding onto Sasuke.
"Ugh... thanks..." Sasuke muttered. "Yeah, no problem," Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
They looked over at Sakura who was still laughing. She pointed down over the cliff. Naruto and Sasuke peered over the edge and instantly paled. The cliff was only about 7 feet up.
"We shall never speak of this again," Sasuke said, eyeing a small puddle below.
"Agreed; at least we didn't get our feet wet?" Naruto offered. Sasuke shrugged. They both turned to glare at Sakura, who had stopped laughing. The two gave an 'if you breathe a word to anyone you're dead' glare. Sakura "eeped!" before holding up her hands in defense.
Sasuke and Naruto smirked at each other. "Well, that was certainly interesting..." 'Yeah, we already have minimal understanding! I'm going to get my best friend back!...' "Yeah, sure, a few more hugs oughtta do it!"That shut the fox up.
"Perhaps we should spar farther away from cliffs?" Naruto asked, smirking.
"Yeah," Sasuke said through a bit of a chuckle. Naruto smiled. Over the years he'd known Sasuke (before Orochimaru's surprise attack that killed him, that is), he'd found exactly how to piss him off and get him to laugh.
They went to a different location and began the sparring match anew. Naruto went easy on Sasuke, barely using any jutsus, and let it end in a tie.
After saying goodbye to his teammates, he began to head home. He figured that the only way he could get any decent practice was if he found a far away spot. He continued to walk until he bumped into a familiar face.
"Oh, hi Hinata!" Naruto said happily.
"U-um h-hi n-Naruto..." she said softly. Naruto smiled as Hinata blushed. 'I hope she gets her confidence up soon. The stuttering makes her hard to understand.'
"W-well I... umm, I-iruka... r-ramen... s-says you l-like?" Hinata stuttered out nervously. Naruto blinked, trying to get the information straight.
"Oh! Yeah! I like ramen!" Hinata shakily pointed at the ramen bar, then began to push her fingers together.
"Sure!" Naruto said happily.
